BLACKOUT ONLY JUST AVERTED

On January 8, 2025, Britain narrowly avoided blackouts during a cold snap with low wind speeds. Emergency measures were required to secure power, costing over £21 million. Kathryn Porter, a prominent energy consultant, described this as the closest the UK has come to blackouts in 15 years.

Two major gas-fired power plants tripped earlier that day, and if these outages had coincided with peak demand, blackouts would have been.

Porter has criticized government policies prioritizing renewable energy over reliable baseload generation. She argues that the transition to renewables without sufficient backup from dispatchable sources like gas or nuclear is making the grid increasingly fragile. To read more go to
https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-papers/blackout-risk-in-the-gb-grid.